


Darkened Nights

by claudiasgothgf



Category: The Dragon Prince (Cartoon)
Genre: Blood, Comfort, Confessions, Cuddling & Snuggling, F/F, Fluff, Mutual Pining, Nightmares, Not Really Character Death, Post-Canon, Sharing a Bed, Stabbing
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-03-12
Updated: 2019-03-12
Packaged: 2019-11-16 07:00:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,083
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18089627
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/claudiasgothgf/pseuds/claudiasgothgf
Summary: In an unfamiliar environment and plagued by fear induced nightmares, Rayla finds comfort where she was least expecting it. She soon learns that addiction is the price of a good night's sleep...





	Darkened Nights

Rayla knew that she was safe. Ezran and Callum had assured her. She was staying in a castle that was more of a fort and was teeming with armed guards. But as she walked down the long hallway to the room that didn't really feel like  _ her  _ room, she couldn't help but notice the guards. How their eyes fell and lingered on her pointed ears for just a moment too long. As she met their gazes, she shivered at the expression in them. She knew it. The eyes of someone regarding their enemy.

 

She shook the shiver from her shoulders as she pushed open the door to her chamber, and began to pull it shut before she had even crossed the threshold. She leaned against the hard wooden surface and signed.  _ You're just being paranoid,  _ she tried to assure herself.  _ They won't do anything to you. Ezran promised…  _ She pushed herself off of the door and towards the four post bed with one lurching step. Maybe some sleep would help ease her mind. She knew it was a lie, but she was always being told that she should be more positive. 

 

When Rayla had first seen the bed, she thought it was heaven. It was big enough to fit two people comfortably and three people at a push. The pillows and mattress were filled with goose feathers. The duvet even felt softer than silk. But there was a problem. It was too comfortable. As she lay on the mattress she felt as though she were being sucked into it. The duvet wrapped around her like a suffocating cocoon. Drowning in a sea of luxury. It was nothing like the simple bed that she slept in when she was in Xadia, and it certainly wasn't comparable to the hard ground that she camped on when travelling with Zym and the boys.

 

As she changed into the simple white cotton nightshirt and bottoms she had been given, she almost dreaded going to bed. Nonetheless, when she was done she reluctantly climbed under the duvet. 

 

_ I just have to get used to it,  _ She told herself as she turned on to her side, allowing herself to sink fully into the mattress.

 

                                     ******

 

_ Rayla found herself standing in the throne room of the castle. In front of her, Ezran sat on a throne that he had yet to grow into. His legs dangled above the floor. Beside him, Callum stood with his hand on his brothers shoulder as he smiled at her. She remembered this day as clear as if it were yesterday. The day that they had asked her to stay.  _

 

_ ‘Well, I really should be going,’ She said, knowing exactly how this conversation went. It was like reading from a script. _

 

_ ‘What do you mean?’ King Ezran asked, looking at her with confusion.  _

 

_ Sadness welled up from deep inside of her, just as it had when this first happened. She didn't want to leave them. _

 

_ ‘It's just… the mission is complete now, isn't it? The dragon prince is safe and you're both home. You don't really need me, not now.’ _

 

_ The two boys exchanged an unreadable look, as though they were having an entire conversation within it. They were always doing it. It was almost enough to bring a smile to Rayla's face. _

 

_ ‘Rayla,’ The king's voice called her out of her reminiscing. _

 

_ ‘I would like to invite you to stay here with us, in the castle.’ His voice was rigid with formality, but his eyes were pleading. _

 

_ Rayla wanted to say yes immediately. To hug him and thank him, but her eyes wandered to the guards. She had to think reasonably about this. After all, she was going to be a moonshadow elf surrounded by armed humans who she wasn't exactly on good terms with. Her or any other elf for that matter. _

 

_ ‘Are you sure?’  _

 

_ Callum caught the hesitation. She knew that he did. _

 

_ ‘Rayla,’ Callum took a step towards her. ‘You're completely safe here. I promise.’ _

 

_ Behind him, Ezran eased himself off of the throne. He walked to stand in front of Rayla. _

 

_ ‘Nothing bad will happen to you here. I'll make sure of it.’ _

 

_ She smiled warmly at him.  _

 

_ ‘Thank you… your majesty.’ She bowed somewhat awkwardly. That was what humans did, wasn't it? _

 

_ Ezran shook his head. _

 

_ ‘You don't have to that. We're friends! It's just Ezran.’   _

 

_ Rayla laughed. ‘Thank you, Ezran.’ She corrected herself.  _

 

_ Ezran nodded to her before walking to one of the guards.  _

 

_ ‘Please pass this message on to the rest of the guards. Rayla is to be protected as well as everyone else in this castle.’ _

 

_ The guard nodded. _

 

_ ‘Also, would you show Rayla to her room?’ _

 

_ Another short nod was given in response. _

 

_ Rayla raised an eyebrow, hiding her smile. ‘You had a room set up for me?’ _

 

_ Callum shrugged innocently. ‘We hoped you would say yes.’ _

 

_ Her would be response was interrupted by the guard opening the door. She turned and saw something in his eyes. A glint of something that hadn't been there the first time this situation played out. It made her feel tense. Uneasy. _

 

_ This uneasy expression stayed with her throughout the long walk to her room. She tried to engage the guard with the conversations they'd had before, but they didn't respond.  _ **_It's just a dream,_ ** _ she reminded herself. That's all it was… but then why did she still feel so nervous?  _

 

_ When they finally reached the familiar door, the guard stopped. They didn't move to open it, or leave, they just stopped in their tracks. _

 

_ ‘Are you-’ Her voice caught in her throat. _

 

_ She hadn't seen it coming. She hadn't even heard them unsheath their weapon. All of a sudden they had just turned and plunged their dagger into her abdomen. _

 

_ She couldn't scream. She couldn't move. It was as if time had slowed down. She didn't even register the pain for a few seconds.  _

 

_ It stung at first. A deep and throbbing sensation that spread throughout her body. And then it burned. It were as though the blade was red hot, burning it's way through her insides. She opened her mouth to scream, but the guard slapped their hand over her mouth. She could see the unfathomable hatred in their eyes as they mercilessly yanked the blade out. _

 

_ Tears rose to her eyes. She felt her skin tear as the metal left and prayed that nothing was punctured. The burning sensation didn't leave, it just grew in intensity. She prayed to wake up, but she couldn’t. She didn't get a chance to try as the weapon was plunged into her again. _

 

_ Suddenly she was falling. She landed on her back with a dull thud. Blood trickled out from underneath the dagger and slipped down her side to stain the carpet. Now the tears were flowing heavily. The burning pain felt like a fire within her. The guard looked down on her with cold, uncaring eyes as they crouched down and ripped the blade from her body once more. _

 

_ Blood flowed from her like a river, pooling around her where she lay. It felt like she was there for hours, condemned to do nothing but watch until she bled out. But then she became very light headed, dizzy even. And slowly, the burning sensation faded away. All sensations faded away. All but the cold, choking feeling of her own blood trailing it's way up her esophagus and out of her mouth. _

 

_ It felt like an eternity until the darkness clouded her vision.  _

 

                                    ******

 

Rayla woke up gasping for air. She had died. She had fucking  **died.** Her shoulders shook as she pushed herself up and she took deep breaths to try and calm herself down.  _ You're okay. You're okay. You're alive and safe.  _

 

Despite her efforts, she broke down into tears. One hand covered her mouth to hide her sobs as they wracked her body. For a few moments, she sat there on the bed with her knees pulled up to her chest. The tears cascaded down her cheeks matter how hard she tried to stop them.  _ I died. _ She couldn't forget the feeling. It had just seemed so  real and that was what scared her more than anything. She needed to get some air.

 

Slowly, Rayla climbed out of the bed and made her way barefoot to the door. It took her a minute or two to get from the threshold to the corridor as she stood in the doorway, staring down at the ground in front of it. She knew what happened wasn't real, but she couldn't help the feeling of dread that rose in her stomach or the fresh tears that stung her eyes. With a shudder, she finally managed to cross the space.

 

Crossing her arms over her stomach, she began to walk down the hall. She didn't know where she was going, all she knew was that she couldn't be  there . The castle was quiet at that hour, eerily so. It did nothing to calm her nerves as she walked. 

 

‘Rayla?’ 

 

The sound nearly made her jump ten feet. She turned on her heels with ice in her veins, relieved when she saw who it was.

 

‘Claudia! What are you doing up?’

 

The other girl stood just a few feet away, her hand still on the door handle of her chamber. 

 

She wore a knee length lavender nightgown, and the moonlight that spilled in intermittent illuminated her pale figure. Rayla's heart rate sped up when she saw her. An angel in the dark.

 

‘I could ask you the same…’ She trailed off, a frown crossing her face. ‘Have you been crying?’

 

‘No.’ Rayla snapped. She regretted it immediately. Claudia didn't deserve that. And it must have been very obvious that she was.

 

Since she had moved into the castle, the two had moved past there differences, much to Callum's smug delight. They had even become friends. Claudia would watch Rayla spar with Soren (when he really got on her nerves), they would sit and talk sometimes or just sit in comfortable silence while Claudia read. Although recently, as much as she hated to admit it, Rayla had been feeling quite a bit stronger.

 

‘I'm sorry. It's just, I had a pretty bad dream.’ The mere mention of it threatened tears again. 

 

Claudia paused for a moment, then before Rayla could blink she had her wrapped up in a hug. 

 

‘It's okay. I'm here if you wanna talk about it.’ 

 

That was the sentence that opened the floodgates. Rayla wrapped her arms around her and cried into her shoulder. And cried. And cried. She was worried that at any moment Claudia would let her go and retreat back to her room. As she wept, it felt like hours passed. But Claudia just held her tighter and tighter with one hand tracing soothing circles into her back. 

 

Rayla was the first to break away, but she noticed that Claudia seemed almost reluctant to let her. Or maybe it was just her imagination. 

 

They stood there for a moment as Rayla wiped her eyes.

 

‘Sorry.’ She said meekly.

 

‘For what?’ There was genuine confusion on Claudia's face. 

 

‘For… crying on you like that, and getting your shoulder wet and-’ 

 

The other girl's hand reached for her own, and she held it gently. As though it were made of glass. Time seemed to stop around them.

 

‘You don't have to be sorry for anything.’ 

 

Rayla was sure that the pure, sincere smile on Claudia's face could have made flowers bloom. It was infectious, Rayla realised, as a small smile made its way on to her own face.

 

They stood like that for a while. Saying nothing, with Rayla's hand in Claudia's. It felt like an eternity passed in those few seconds, an eternity that Rayla knew she would treasure forever, even as she broke its charm and pulled her hand away.

 

‘It's late… I'm probably keeping you up,’ 

 

Claudia shook her head. 

 

‘Not at all!’ She seemed to think for a moment before asking, ‘Are you going back to bed?’

 

Rayla hesitated. She knew she should, she  was exhausted… but the thought of that room, of that stretch of hallway, made her skin crawl. 

 

‘No, I'm not ready to- to go back there yet.’

 

Claudia opened her door and Rayla thought that was it. She was about to turn and set herself on a lap of the castle, but she was stopped.

 

‘Wait.’

 

The elf turned to face her. She had a shy, almost cautious expression on her face as she stood with one foot over the threshold.

 

‘If you don't want to talk about it, that's fine. But I can see that this has you really, really scared… and I've never seen you scared.’

 

Rayla’s face grew red. She was afraid of a lot of things honestly, but she supposed that without even realising it she had established a reputation of being unshakable. 

 

‘I don't know why you're avoiding your room, but you should really get some sleep… so why don't you sleep in my room?’ 

 

If she didn't think it was possible for a blush to spread to the very tips of her ears before, Rayla was sure it was now. Her heart stammered inside of it's cage.

 

‘What?’ She said it out of disbelief more than anything. 

 

‘Well, I just figured that you might sleep easier knowing there was someone else in the same room… but if you don't want to-’

 

‘No! No- I mean, I mean that does sound nice,’

 

The words fell out of her mouth in all in a tangled mess, and for a moment she worried that Claudia hadn't understood her. But then the shy smile on her face spread into a large, dazzling grin. 

 

Her hand reached for Rayla once again, but this time it was to pull her through the chamber door. 

 

                                      ******

 

Claudia’s room was a lot more homely than Rayla's. Books were neatly stacked on shelves that lined the walls above a large oak dresser. On top of said dresser sat crystals of various sizes and colours dispersed around opaque glass bottles. Beside the bed stood a single table,on which was a hand mirror and a still burning candle.

 

_ Looks like I'm not the only one who had trouble sleeping, _ Rayla noted.

 

‘Ta-da!’ Claudia said, gesturing to the room.

 

Rayla didn't quite know what to say. She was almost afraid that if she spoke it would break the spell and she would wake up to find that this had all been a dream. A dream within a dream.

 

As Claudia turned to approach the bed, Rayla prepared to spend the night on the ground. At least if she had a nightmare, Claudia wasn't too far away.  _ My hero,  _ She thought perhaps a bit too sincerely as she sat down.

 

‘Rayla, what are you doing?’

 

Claudia sat perched on the edge of the bed, one leg folded underneath the other as she peered down at the elf. Rayla wanted to ask if it was a trick question, but didn't get the chance. 

 

‘You- you didn't think you were going to sleep on the floor, did you?’

 

It was then that Rayla experienced three different stages all at once.

  1. Confusion. _Where else am I supposed to sleep?_
  2. Embarrassment. _Did she mean something else? I've made a fool of myself..._
  3. Realisation. _Oh! Oh._



 

As the pieces clicked together in her mind, Rayla looked up to the bed. Claudia had slipped under the duvet on the far side and was patting the empty space beside her.

 

Rayla swallowed the sudden lump in her throat and stood up. Her walk to the bed was the slowest she had ever possibly taken, but not out of reluctance, out of nervousness. 

 

_ Why am I so nervous?  _

 

Claudia pulled the duvet back for her before she could even sit down.

 

_ It's just Claudia. _

 

She lay down slowly and pulled the duvet over herself.

 

_ All you're doing is sleeping with Claudia. _

 

Her train of thought came to a stop with an almighty crash.

 

_ Not like that! _

 

‘Comfy?’ The subject of her thoughts asked quietly.

 

‘Very,’ Rayla managed to croak out as she turned to face her.

 

Claudia lay facing her with one hand under her cheek. Her black hair almost completely obscured her face, like a curtain had fallen across it. Rayla's heart pounded like a drum in her chest, and she prayed that the other girl wasn't able to hear it.

 

A minute passed. Then another, during which they just lay there in silence and stared at each other. Rayla brought a hand to her mouth to stifle a yawn.

 

‘You should get some sleep,’ As she spoke, Claudia's eyes were filled with concern- no. Filled with care.

 

Rayla sighed.

 

‘I can't.’

 

Claudia frowned and moved her hair away from her face. ‘If you have another nightmare-’

 

‘It's not that,’ Rayla interrupted. ‘...Well it is but, I can’t explain it.’ She paused to put the right words together. ‘The beds here are  _ too _ comfortable.’

 

A curious expression passed over the human's face, and for a moment Rayla worried that she would ask how something could ever be  too comfortable. But she didn't.

 

‘Roll over,’

 

_ What? _ Was what the elf would have asked if Claudia hadn't intercepted it.

 

‘I just want to try something. Roll over to face the door.’

 

Rayla raised an eyebrow but did as she was told. She lay facing the darkened door, wondering what in the world was about to happen, when she felt the bed shift. In the next moment, something warm slipped over her abdomen and she was pulled slightly backwards. Then something else shimmied it's way under the arm she was lying on. Her face felt so hot that she worried it would combust as she realised what was happening.

 

_ Claudia's holding me _ .

 

There was hot breath on her ear as Claudia nuzzled against her hair, clearly trying to avoid the pointed ends of her horns.

 

‘How's this?’ 

 

The whispered question sent a shiver down Rayla's spine. 

 

‘It's nice,’ She answered honestly, cursing the way that her voice cracked.

 

‘Good.’  

 

As she lay there, wrapped up in the warmth of Claudia's arms and encompassed by her ever present sweet and rich scent, Rayla was sure that she had never been so relaxed. Or tired, for that matter.

 

‘Goodnight,’ She murmured as her eyelids grew heavy. 

 

Before sleep took hold of her completely, Rayla heard a single quiet sentence;

 

‘Sweet dreams, Rayla.' 

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! I hope you enjoyed the first chapter, there'll be another one soon! In the meantime if you could leave a kudos and comment it would really make my day! Thank you!


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